Outlaw Turkish leftist group owns up to US Embassy suicide bombing

An outlawed leftist group in Turkey has claimed responsibility for the recent suicide bombing of the US Embassy in Ankara, which left a security guard dead and seven wounded.

According to Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler, law-enforcement authorities had information that the suicide bomber, a Turkish national, was a known member of the outlawed leftist group, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, and had been previously jailed on terrorism charges, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The group stated on an affiliate website Halkin Sesi that the attack was in retaliation for imperialism policies of the United States, and Turkey's aaceptance of American colonialism.

The website posted photos of the alleged bomber, Ecevit Alisan Sanli, and called on followers to attend his funeral.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack showed a need for international cooperation against terrorism and was aimed at disturbing Turkey's peace and development.

US has listed the DHKP-C, which wants a socialist state, as a terrorist organisation. The group is passionately anti-American, according to the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, and has used suicide bombers in the past.

The attack comes against the backdrop of the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, assault on U.S. posts in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens were killed. (ANI)